Stolen Moments
by TheNobleLark
Summary: Once again taking inspiration from tumblr (a meme done by noblemels) this is an AU in which Rose and Martha are thieves, working with an elusive Time Lord, wanted by Time Agent Donna Noble. The Bad Wolf, the Doctor, the Time Lady and the Thief play a grand game of cops and robbers throughout time and space, searching for lost time and memories to be made. Ten/Donna (be warned)
1. The Thieves

**The Thieves**

_(Whatever happened to the heart_

_That pumped the passion into the art_

_The entity that gave you the energy to wanna start)_

_ ~B-Boy - Macklemore_

"Ready?"

The ballroom glittered like a night sky. Strings of crystal spattered glowing light onto the dark, high walls. A steady buzz of conversation wafted over the crowd on the floor, sweeping over them all like a rolling smoke that could protect them with collective anonymity. There was clinking of glasses and merry sounds of laughter to intermingle with the rustling of fine gowns and shuffling feet. The entire room was a swarm of partying mass.

"Ready," Martha nodded with a slight smirk. She checked her watch as her partner shirked her glittering dress off her shoulders so it could slither down her frame. "What are you wearing?"

"What?" Rose shrugged and kicked her garment away with the heel of her boot. Unhooking some futuristic tool from her leather clad hip she bent to the vault standing like a monolith in front of her. "Fifteen seconds, starting...now."

"Copy that," came a rough voice through the earpiece. It was disembodied, elsewhere, fiddling with a fob watch and a screwdriver.

"You knew he wasn't going to be here-why would you wear that?" Martha questioned vaguely, a little too casually, shaking her head to herself. She checked their surroundings and the entrance to the vault room. All was clear, but Martha Jones was not one to slack off on a job, let alone with a pay off like this.

"'Cause I look good," Rose tossed freely, though she didn't bother looking at Martha (it was unlikely she would be looking either).

"I'll give you that," the older woman extended as an olive branch. She drifted towards her partner and leaned. "You got it?"

The tumbler fell with a clunk like an over sized can lid. Rose and Martha both jumped up and grabbed at the door, using the most part of their bodies' strength to haul it open. It gave a great creaking, sounding as if moaning in pain. Rose spoke first, through soft pants. "We're in."

"Let's get it and go," Martha muttered somewhat to herself. She felt no need to make conversation, preferring to speak solely for the sake of the job. She preferred to keep an essence of professionalism about her.

"Right," Rose drawled dryly. She accepted the duffle bag from Martha silently, deciding to go straight to work, since Martha seemed intent on doing so anyway. "What's got you so tense?"

Martha looked up at Rose for a moment before answering. The blond girl was shoving stacks of cash into the bag the way a child packed for a vacation. "What do you mean?"

"I mean usually you're at least a little fun," Rose made a show of faking a large smile but received no appreciation of the mockery, "sometimes."

"I'm plenty of fun," Martha refuted subtly before turning back to her stacking her cash neatly in the bottom of her bag.

"You're tense tonight," Rose stood and slumped over to Martha, "what's up?"

"Just want to go relax, I guess," Martha sighed. She felt as if she was back telling her younger sister that she didn't want to watch reality shows because she'd rather study. Rather than grow irritant she looked up at Rose with a deliberately tired smile on her pretty face. "I've really been craving a good bubble bath, maybe with the jets, get some nice bath salts, the whole thing."

"Ugh, I know," Rose nodded, either indulging Martha in her charade or unaware of the slight falsity. "I'd love a night when we could just put our feet up, get our nails done. You know the last time we went shopping was our trip to the 60s!"

Martha nodded vaguely, with only a slight hum of nondescript agreement. In honesty, she didn't give a damn about shopping, and maybe even thought just a little ill of Rose for having such frivolous priorities. "I think I've got a couple million here; you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just 'bout," Rose muttered as she tossed some more money into her bag. She took a moment to quell her frustration with the stick in the mud. With an aggressive zip she tossed the bag over her shoulder and turned with her hip cocked. Only Martha Jones could make robbing a grand ball on an alien cruise a pain in the ass. "You know, a little party never killed nobody."

"Anybody," Martha offered in quick correction.

"It's a song," Rose rolled her eyes and groaned, albeit with amused fondness, and trudged after.

"Biodampener alert!-get out of there!"

"What?-where?!" Martha asked into her com. She kept telling him they needed their own alerts so they wouldn't have to count on him and then get a last second warning.

"I can't tell where, just get the hell out of there!"

Martha groaned aloud and took off behind Rose. Although she ran ahead, the blond took wide corners, skidding slightly in her impractically heeled boots. "Why did you wear that, again?"

"Shut up!" Rose shouted without so much as a blink, letting the wind passing around her carry the words to her partner's ears. Despite this being tossed in passing she took genuine comfort in the sound of Martha's feet behind her.

"Time Agent!" came a smooth American baritone; "don't make me handcuff you ladies."

Martha and Rose both skidded a bit to a halt, seeing a man with finely clipped hair and a tuxedo appear. He had a gun holster making his undone jacket bulge awkwardly around the brown leather. Rather than such a normal pistol, he had a long barreled weapon slung across his meaty shoulders. Neither of the young women made a move but Martha swallowed. "Why would you handcuff us?"

"Nice try," the agent schmoozed with flawlessly smooth accent. "We've been looking for you girls for quite some time, now."

"Well, why don't we give you a reason to let us go." Rose pulled out her own version of a gun from her nearly bottomless pocket.

"Aw, sweetheart, that's cute," the American laughed deeply.

"Focus, Jack," came a secondary, feminine voice.

A woman stepped into view, beside Jack. She wore a peacock green dress that shimmered with crystals like the night with stars. It exposed pale shoulder, the right of which held thick locks of auburn, and flowed softly over a womanly figure. The arms crossed under her showcased breasts were accented by a golden band secure upon her fourth finger. "All right, let's get to it, shall we?"

Rose and Martha backed up a bit, now. Jack fixing his gun in his hands didn't faze them but the appearance of the woman spooked them. Rose tried to remain strong. "You'll let us go, if you know what's good for you."

The woman laughed luxuriously, in the same silken tone that made her voice carry so fully and strongly. "Oh, you can't have expected that to work, _Miss Tyler_."

"We haven't committed any crime," Martha spoke up but also kept her distance. Rose was willing to antagonize the agents but Martha certainly wasn't, especially once blue eyes - glowing eerily gold - were fixated upon her.

"You've committed plenty, but that's not why we're here."

"I know she's there-I'm on my way!"

Rose and Martha didn't dare let their eyes find each other as the tension continued to build around them.

"Just tell me, and this will all be easier," said with a head tilt, sending coppery waves tumbling against freckled pallor.

"Tell you what?" Rose swallowed her nerves, nothing short of frightened by the burning gold looking at her.

"Where is the Doctor?"


	2. Cops and Robbers

**Cops and Robbers**

_(Your heart's a mess_  
_You won't admit to it_  
_It makes no sense_  
_But I'm desperate to connect_  
_You can't live like this)_

_~Hearts a Mess - Gotye_

"Someone call for a Doctor?"

Donna inhaled, trying to steady herself. There was a worrying vibration in the ring on her fourth, left finger. It rattled her, through her skin to her bones. "Late to the party yet again, Gallifreyan?"

"Ooh, scathing as always, Miss Noble." The Doctor came in with quick, squeaky steps. He was adjusting his cuff links as he came in with a playful grin, that had just a hint of something darker. He was remarkably nonchalant for a man walking into his own arrest.

"Agent," she was quick to correct him. Her eyes glared at him with golden fire in their reflective multitudes of blue. The Doctor put up his hands, with his back to her, in a mocking shrug of apology. She took the opportunity to be insulted. "Look at me, you daft Martian!"

"Don't talk to him like that!" Rose barked, sparking her presence in the conversation once more.

"He's not from Mars," Martha shook her head from her place of background solidity. She was quite satisfied without being in the line of fire, unlike her impetuous partner.

"We know where he's from," Jack smirked, still holding his gun by the side and top handles. Seeing he had the girls' attention - finally - he continued. "The Doctor, also known as the Gallifreyan: wanted for thievery of a Tardis and illegal conduct regarding time travel outside of the writs of the Shadow Proclamation."

Donna's eyes met the Doctor's, gold energy almost flowing out of her. Her eyes flew to the fobwatch chain partially shadowed by his suit. It called out to her, as if singing a high, eerie, whispering tune. Her ring heated against her finger and she attempted to swallow her emotion. It was easy to see Donna struggling beneath the heavy veil of Agency status, but stronger than Donna was the burden of a Time Lady. "Doctor, we're willing to work out a deal of sorts for your little companions-"

"Partners," Rose corrected. She was growing far too tired of being ignored, and there was an unsettling air rolling in like fog.

"Pets," Donna quirked her head at Rose, just to get under her skin. The blonde took it as the offense as it was intended to be, but Donna took that as her prize for victory. "We're offering a deal for them in return for your full cooperation."

"Now, why would I rat out my associates-"

"Partners," Rose pressed again, more agitated each time she was passed up.

"Colleagues," was all the Doctor spared, with a distractedly pointed finger, "if I could get us all out of here?"

"We're here to make sure that doesn't happen," Jack quipped dryly.

"That might have always been your mission, yet here we are, walking free." The Doctor did a little dance in his black converse, making a show of his cavalier attitude. He made it clear that neither they posed nor did he feel a threat by them. His grin was particularly mocking as the agents' faces descended into disgruntled insult. "So, with that in mind, I think we'll be on our way."

"Absolutely not!" Donna spoke up and clicked her way over in heels concealed by the flowing trail of her dress. Some of her characteristic indignation seemed to return to her as she met him in a midground. "You have things for which you have to answer, _Doctor_."

"Well, I don't see anyone here who could make me, _Agent_," the Doctor stared on just as intently as Donna. He was admittedly drawing this out longer than needed, but that was always part of the fun!

Donna now stood close enough to reach for the fob watch chain. The Doctor caught her wrist with a strong grasp as soon as the tips of her fingers could graze the metal. His grip was both loose enough not to hurt her but tight enough that there was no escaping unless by his own volition. He could see the light reflected in the gold of her ring. The air was practically sparking around them, or rather their mysterious trademark treasures.

"Tell me," Donna hissed lowly.

"What?" the Doctor growled in return, no more in the mood to be in this kind of proximity.

"The watch," the agent clarified but didn't move. She kept him in her sights, measuring his blank slated face.

"Just a present," the Doctor shook his head slightly. He didn't even blink as he felt her wrist jerk in disagreement; "from an old friend."

"And the ring?"

"Get your hands off her," they heard from behind Donna, where Jack cocked his gun at the Doctor's pristine hair.

"I can handle this, Jack," she snapped unreservedly.

"Go back to your partner, Donna," the Doctor said barely more than whispering.

"You haven't answered my questions," the woman in question let her own anger boil over. The mixture of feelings on her tongue only got muddled, mixing into to acid no matter what she thought she felt.

"What makes you think I have the answers to them?"

"Because you were there the day I lost them!"

There was a rush of wind. A whirring whizzed into the air. The boundaries separating Jack from the Time Lords, and Rose and Martha likewise, blurred. The wind began to funnel above them and soon blue swam into view. It was a spectral appearance, but soon Donna and the Doctor were hidden and encased therein.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted past the commotion. He was still locked in some Time Lord staring contest with Noble. She ran, forgetting her gun and trying just to reach her Doctor. She knew the sound, and she knew that if she didn't act she would be stuck, helpless, watching him dissipate into the air, and she just couldn't do that again.

"Rose!" Martha went after the younger woman. She knew they had to help the Doctor, but she also knew the dangers of this in flux state of action. Rose was getting perilously close to reaching the wavering image of the Doctor's back. Martha wrapped her arms around the girl's waist and pulled back. They both fell to the floor with a horrible pain in the collision. Their bodies fell in a mess of limbs and conflict.

"Donna!" Jack shielded his eyes for a moment. Once he realized what was happening he just watched. Donna's hair flew with the inexplicable hurricane suddenly forming. Her dress billowed around her legs. He knew what she was doing; she always did this. She looked beautiful when she did this.

And then they Donna and the Doctor were gone.


	3. The Time Lords

**The Time Lords **

_(And I don't want to see what I've seen_  
_To undo what has been done_  
_Turn off all the lights_  
_Let the morning come, come)_

_~Over the Love - Florence and the Machine_

"Tell me what the watch is!"

"That ring of yours really gets in the way of things sometimes," the Doctor murmured as he left their position of locked horns. He used the distance to cool his temper, flicking knobs and switches with force.

"What is the ring?" Donna followed him, aggressively, making sure that he couldn't run away from her this time. Being in this little, blue box really limited his ability to be a coward.

"I believe it's a trinket, usually made of a precious metal, symbolically-"'

"Why do I have this ring?" Donna plowed over his ramblings easily. She held up the hand and waved it in front of him. "It's not mine, I just...woke up with it. That day...this ring...and you... "

The Doctor tore himself from the sight of the little gold band. His whole body was like jagged, sharp metal. The sight of that ring seemed to bring him all encompassing pain. "I don't know what you've been told, Miss Noble, but I met you as an Agent."

"You know me, I know you do," Donna persisted. She wasn't taking any more evasion-not this time. "You know about when I became an Agent, about when I was partnered with Jack, things that I didn't even know about my own life!"

"Research!-anything I know about you is from files, in time, or space, er-" the Doctor finished his rant with an indignant 'pphffffttssffttsh' sound through his lips and an overdramatic raise of his hand. "You're just a human, you know, so why become a flippin' Time Agent?"

"To find out what happened to two years of my life!" Donna followed the Doctor as he started walking around the console.

"You should have stayed at home, with your family!" the Doctor fired back with just as much frustration. "What were you thinking?!"

"That maybe I could do something of importance!" Donna narrowed in on him, slamming her palm down on his fingers. He didn't flinch. "The universe was waiting for me."

"Go home, Donna." The Doctor made sure to get in close, close enough to see himself in the center of her golden/blue eyes, close enough to smell American perfume on her. It shook him, and he backed up ever so slightly. "You're not going to find anything."

"I'm not leaving," Donna stood her ground.

"Get out of my Tardis!" he roared. It was deafening, booming off the metallic console room. The angry power in his voice was frightening.

"I have worked too hard to get in here just to leave." Donna stood back, turned just slightly away from him. She had never seen him blow up like that. It was scary, really, but she couldn't afford to let him become a monster to her. She had taken months to work out that the Tardis would particulate with Huon particles. Jack was eager enough to give her plan a try, and - to his credit - hadn't questioned how exactly she knew it. "You asked me why I became an Agent."

"Yes, I did," the Doctor drawled in a patronizing tone.

"I want to do something right-make a difference in the universe. You used to." Donna watched the Doctor react. His disturbance at her mentioning told her exactly what she wanted to know, and how to use it. "The Doctor, who used to pilot the Tardis, doing good all across the universe. What happened to him?"

"Are you still here?" the Doctor directed sharply in Donna's direction. She didn't waver.

"One day the Doctor just disappeared, and then he was robbing parties blind all across time and space," Donna began moving again. She kept her steps steady, setting the pace. The Doctor moved away from her according to her movements. "The Agency picked up on it. They assigned Jack and I to pursue you as you went, as opposed to heading you off anywhere. Your old girl makes it very heard to pinpoint a present in your timeline."

"Time Lord," the Doctor pointed himself with a snippy tone to his voice.

"Time Lady," Donna pointed to herself. The statement only seemed to repulse him more, as he turned away with a muddled groan. "Doctor, you have to look at me, right now, and tell me you had nothing to do with me before my amnesia."

The Doctor swept in close to her, creating enough wind to blow her hair slightly against her cheek. They both watched, unwilling to look away from it, lest they miss the full experience of distraction from their tension. He looked like he had every intention of doing as she said.

"And Jack," she added before he could speak.

"What about Jack?" the Doctor turned defensive again, clamming up in what he said as opposed to how he talked.

"Jack and I are partners because he's missing two years of his life, too. What would you know of that," Donna placed herself almost nose to nose with the Time Lord, "_Doctor_?"

"I don't give a damn about what that philanderer does, and how do you know that about him anyway?" The question came out choppy and rushed.

"We're partners, and friends," Donna snapped.

"Good friends?"

The Doctor easily caught Donna wrist before her palm could collide with his cheek. She ripped it away with a dark glare.

"Good as far as your business goes," she growled. The Doctor gave her a look of what she could only perceive as disgust. She swallowed the lump in her throat, although it did nothing to settle her suddenly clenched stomach. "Not that you can talk, hauling around your little lap dogs."

"Are you referring to my companions?"

"Aren't they your partners?" Donna hooked an eyebrow upwards, feeling the upper ground return to her advantage.

"They...choose to come with me," the Doctor snarled in his best defense of himself. "Their intentions are not as black and white as you think, either, so maybe you should consider that before you go putting up wanted posters."

"Yes, the first thing the 51st century Time Agency does is make up old fashioned physicals of wanted posters." Donna rolled her eyes before uncrossing her arms. She grabbed the skirt of her dress and tossed it back, making it become a cape for her legs from where the slit revealed her calf and onward. "I can help you, dunce! All the Agency wants is the Tardis, but I can make you a deal-I can protect you, if you'd just let me!"

"I don't need your protection, and I want your company even less than that!" The Doctor resumed the great battle between them. The back and forth of the argument was horribly addicting and twice as dangerous. "The robberies are the means to some ends, but that's it. If they take my Tardis they take my freedom."

"Cut the highlander attitude, Braveheart, you stole it, plain and simple, just like you steal everything." Donna looked closely, seeing the nerve being hit in real time; she dug deeper. "You stole the Tardis, you stole your associates, and you stole from me."

"What have I ever stolen from you?" he scoffed, although not denying the other two accusations.

"That watch," Donna pointed to it, circling the tip of her finger with its coral manicured nail. She waited until she got too close, anticipating the rough grab of her hand by his. "That watch has something to do with me, and I'm guessing it has my memor-"

"It's just a watch, Donna, just an antique," the Doctor rushed out so quickly she barely heard it. He takes it out of the pocket briefly to hold it up. It was an old looking thing, with stained, distress kind of metal, madly scrawled over with Gallifreyan. For some reason she recognized what the language was but couldn't read it. "See?-can't even open it. It's just...useless."

Donna kept herself steeled against the resentment and devastating disappointment she felt. Truly, when she looked at his hand cramped around the watch, it was just that. There was no energy or song in her head, and that frustrated her more than anything. "Then why can I hear it?"

"It's just me, Donna, your telepathy and mine," the Doctor shoved the watch back in his pocket and let go of her hand just as roughly as he had taken it.

"How can that be if I'm not Gallifreyan?" Donna delved into her memories - her lack thereof - and her knowledge.

"Time Lord is a title-"

"You know what I mean," Donna bit, determined to find an answer at least to this question. "I have the mind of a Time Lord but I'm human-how is that?"

"I don't owe you an explanation, Agent Noble." The Doctor returned to the console. "I am taking you to your family and you are going to leave me the hell alone, do you understand?"

"Don't even think about it," Donna sneered. She pulled up the sleeve of her dress and turned her wrist. "So long as I have this, you can't lose me, and vice versa."

"That is a cheap and dirty way to time travel," the Doctor glared at the vortex manipulator with even more contempt than he showed the idea of Donna and Jack being together. "If there were any reason I can't seem to lose you and vice versa it would be that damn ring of yours."

"Yes, the wedding ring that belongs to me and no husband, how odd," Donna muttered darkly. The last thing she remembered from her time before the amnesia was getting engaged. When she found her family again she couldn't even remember her fiance's name, not that it mattered. As she was told, he died while she was off losing her memories.

"Don't you dare use that thing while you're in my presence-my Tardis!" The Doctor pointed his finger and stood with his feet apart, like an angry school teacher yelling at a disobedient student.

"Oh, this?" Donna sent him an open mouthed look of falsified shock, all the while still selecting her time code.

"I am telling you, don't!" the Doctor continued to shout. Donna only turned away from him, looking as displeased as ever. "Donna Noble, you listen to me-!"


	4. The Bad Wolf and the Good Doctor

**The Bad Wolf and The Good Doctor **

_(Love is drowning  
In a deep web  
All the secrets  
And no body else to tell  
Take the money  
Why don't you honey  
Blindness)_

_~Love is Blindness - Jack White_

"Dammit!" Jack slammed his fist into the floor with such force it was as if he expected it to break.

"What was that? What just happened?" Martha managed to get to her feet first.

"Donna had her vortex manipulator," Jack murmured mostly to himself. He scrambled to reach his own wrist, fiddling with a leather band there. His fingers were shaky, looking out of practice. "She can't just warp mid Tardis-ing!-it messes with the teleport base codes of both units!"

"Where have they gone?!" Rose clawed her way to a standing position with a manic tone to her voice. "Where did she take him?"

"She didn't take him anywhere, they were both circulating chronon energy and the different base codes pulled them apart like magnets. They were slingshot-ed away from each other in time and space."

"Well, can't you get them back?" Martha directed the question towards Jack.

The American didn't get a chance to answer as his body hit the ground. There was an indulgent sound of sparking electricity in his wake.

"We could have just talked to him," Martha murmured but took the vortex manipulator off his wrist with no further quarrel. She fiddles with the coordinates, making necessary adjustments.

"since when are you such a softie," Rose all out scoffed and holstered her weapon. "Can you get it working?"

"Working on it," Martha tapered out as she worked. She slowed her pace enough to look at Rose. The younger woman looked agitated, stressed. Her face was tightly drawn with anxiety, without its usual sunny countenance. "Since when are you such a hard-ass?"

"Since my love life died."

Martha looked up briefly at the shot she knew was directed at her. As the third wheel to join the Doctor and the already drafted Rose, Martha always knew the resentment Rose gave off was more than a figment of her imaginings. Regardless of her feelings for the Doctor - as perceived by Rose - fictional or not, Martha always had to walk on thin ice when it came to whatever happened between those two before she arrived.

"Got it fixed yet?" Rose asked with poorly diluted impatience.

"It's been tampered with," Martha frowned deeply. She looked down at Jack's unconscious form, feeling something akin to pity for him. "Something here doesn't add up."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked in genuine curiosity. Martha got damn well on her nerves most times, but they could certainly work well enough together.

"This model is like nothing I've seen, except in, well, the future," Martha narrated as she fiddled with the trinket.

"We're in the year 4921 and that thing is from the future?" Rose leaned in to whatever Martha was doing. The leather cuff certainly looked worn, but the odd thing was how the center digits in the coordinates display kept changing. Every second, they'd shift. "What's it doing?"

"It's a 51st century vortex manipulator, which doesn't make sense, because I know for a fact America's branch was shut down before that." Martha looked down at the Captain's still face again. "So, where did he come from, and how did he get this?"

"Not really urgent questions if you ask me," Rose checked her watch. "Do you think he lost track of time?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," Martha murmured and shook out her hands.

"So, what, we wait for him to find us?" Rose looked down at Jack and eased herself to her knees. She dug into his pockets.

"Rose!" Martha yelped in protest.

"Relax, I'm just seeing if he has something we can use to boost that vortex," Rose muttered somewhat against Jack's shoulder.

"I'll just give him a call," Martha pulled out her mobile. She dialed the number quickly, ignoring Rose's diminishing humor for her. "Come on, Doctor, pick up."

"Martha!" came a sharply filtered voice.

"Doctor!" she answered to her name with a relieved laugh, "are you all right?"

"Debatable," he growled between beeps and metallic moaning in the background.

"Where or when are you?" Rose asked into the phone.

"Also debatable," the Doctor answered shortly, "I'm on my way."

Martha and Rose both took a significant pause to just stare at the phone, now singing to them with a dull, shrill off-hook-tone. They shared a look. "That's helpful, eh?"

"Who is she, really?" Martha asked Rose. She didn't really want to, but the blonde was simply more likely to know. "Donna Noble, I mean; we've avoided her well, but...who is she?"

"Just some Agent," Rose shrugged but clearly couldn't convince Martha anymore than herself. "She knew the Doctor at some point but...he won't talk about it."

"She certainly seems to be very familiar with him," Martha mused aloud, thinking back to the banter between them.

"She doesn't know him, she just argues with him, there's a difference," Rose snapped, clearly not willing to even humor the notion.

Martha rolled her eyes for just a second; "touchy."

Wind swirled and Rose let her hair out from its pins. "I can't wait to get out of here."

"Have that bubble bath," Martha sighed in concurrence with the sentiment.

The Doctor threw open the Tardis door with a manic swing of the hand. He stumbled out before his companions with what could have been mistaken for a touch of motion sickness. "Ah, there you two are."

"Doctor, are you all right?" Rose went to support his stumbling form, holding him up by the chest. "What did she do to you?"

"Donna?" the Doctor muttered, actually looking around, as if searching for her. "No, no, she's gone."

"Oh, good, let's get out of here," Rose tried to direct them into the Tardis.

"Before Slugger there wakes up," Martha looked back to the dozing American to illustrate.

"No, no, no, no, we have to find her-Donna," the Doctor stuttered sounding actually drunk.

"What?-why?" Rose almost snorted at the suggestion.

"She took it," the Doctor looked around him and put a hand to his mouth. His eyes were wide to help him process what had actually taken place.

"What?"

"She took it, Donna, she took the watch." The Doctor pulled away from Rose only to slump against the Tardis door. "She took it and she transported, and I don't know where or when."

"What does that matter?" Rose shook her head, "I thought you said it was nothing but a trinket."

"It..." the Doctor looked pensive, "we have to get it back from her."

"But why?" Martha shook her head as well. She and Rose shared a worried look over their Doctor, who was hunched over as if ready to retch.

"We just do!" The Doctor kept his eyes away from Martha's and Rose's. He didn't like lying to them-not telling them everything. "Donna can't open it-not yet, that is, but I'm sure she'll find a way."

"Okay, then let's go find her," Rose sighed, in a resigned way that resembled how teachers sighed at volunteer sports practices or play rehearsals.

"I can track her so long as she has the biodampener on," the Doctor straightened himself. He ran a hand through his already - never unruffled - ruffled hair and buttoned his jacket. "Once she lands we can get right on her heels."

"What about him?" Rose pointed lazily over to the Captain.

The Doctor gave pause, thinking over the situation carefully. He squinted for a long moment before snapping; "oh, I know!"

Rose and Martha waited as the Doctor dodged inside, only to pop right back out with a pillow in hand. He ran over to Jack and slipped the pillow under his head. He trotted back to them, now with a semblance to his normal sunny smile. "Ready to go?"

"Ye-puh!" the Doctor popped his 'p' brightly. He looked at Rose first, then Martha, only to slap the vortex manipulator from her wrist. "Eugh!-Martha, no, don't ever go near one of those again."

"Right," the good doctor rolled her eyes fondly, willing to leave the thing on the floor, discarded, if it got the Doctor back to his normal self.

"Shall we, then?" Rose tucked her tongue between her teeth in a wide smile, with her eyebrows raised.

"Allons-y!" the Doctor growled with determination.


End file.
